Ethnic groups in Southwest Asia

1. Turk

1.1. Central Asia continued into the early centuries CE as Mongols pushed westward Turkic peoples, who occupied large parts of western Central and Southwest Asia.

1.2. The westward Asiatic movements also produced, over a period of time, much mixing of early European and Asiatic peoples in Central and West Asia.

2. Kurd

2.1. Kurds share a good deal in common with the Arab majority, especially Sunni Muslims.

2.2. Overall, Arabs represent 78% of Iraq's population, while Kurds are 16% and other, smaller ethnic groups constitute the remainder.

3. Persian

3.1. The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran.

3.2. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language, as well as languages closely related to Persian.

4. Azerbaijani

4.1. One of the largest in Eastern Europe, whose culture displays a mixture of Turkic, Iranian, and Caucasian influences.

4.2. Azerbaijan's ethnic minorities are often related to ethnic majorities in other nations, and tend to heavily congregate near national borders.

5. Arab

5.1. Militant campaigns of Arabs spread Islam and Arab political structures out of Arabia westward into Africa and Spain

5.2. Beginning in the 7th century CE and lasting until the 16th century, those efforts brought a substantial Arab migration to Southwest Asia.